Down memory lane...

This past week we had food safety classes in Santa Maria California. This is the area that we lived in off and on for about five years when I was younger. We originally moved to Oceano in my 5th grade year. We lived just a block from the beach, which I loved. We moved to Nevada and then back again in my 6th grade year, again to Oceano for awhile.

We then moved to Lompoc for my 7th, 8th, 9th and most of my 10th grade years. During that time we lived in 5 different houses. One of which burned down, but that's another story. While living in that home, about 5 miles from town, I met my best friend, Gloria Valla. We were total opposites but totally clicked with each other! She was beautiful, cared about her looks, and much more mature. I was such a tomboy who really didn't care about boys or what my hair looked like! We had so much fun together exploring the hills and goofing off. This past week I was finally able to see her once again and once again, we clicked! We hadn't seen each other for close to 40 years! Yes, we have both aged... Her husband, Steve Bridge, was a really nice guy and just smiled as we traveled down memory lane. Gloria had an album of old pictures of us which were pretty hilarious.

The place where we lived is now a golf course. I did find one house on South M street we lived in but didn't have my camera! So sad. I found my junior high school and the elementary school in Oceano. I also found the church I attended in Lompoc after I was baptized.

While we were in California we traveled to Solvang, a Danish settlement, visited Fess Parker's (Daniel Boone tv series actor) and the Firestone (Firestone tire guy) wineries, the La Purisima Mission(we lived across from it but the house is no longer there), and stayed in a hotel on Pismo Beach. All places from my memories (expect the wineries).

Unfortunately, the two days we were at Pismo were foggy and chilly. But, we did see some dolphins swimming and walked around old downtown a lot. I was so disappointed that we couldn't go swimming. There were many brave surfers out but they were wearing their wet suits.

Throughout the days we spent, I had a hard time because I kept thinking about my mom and wanting to ask her questions or to tell her something I had seen or remembered. We also toured many different fruit and vegetable farms and generally just had a wonderful time.

Doin' Good

Well, we have three weeks under our belts (which we can see now) with our healthy new lifestyle. We are actually doing quite well. Frank has lost over 15 pounds and I'm pushing 10! We have been pretty darn faithful in eating better. No more "fat" snacks after dinner. Smaller portions without all of the butter, sour cream, etc is really helping. We haven't had the hunger and cravings so I guess this TAIslim is working for us.

Another huge plus is our blood pressure has really dropped! I was 98/75 and Frank has been 112/72!!! I guess we will prolong our lives doing this this.

We have been going on walks and riding our bikes. It's a mile up the hill to the stop sign and so that's a walk we take quite a bit. It's been kinda fun to walk and talk in the evenings. It also makes us feel better. Tera and Tenlee have been over quite a bit and goes with us. Poor little Tenlee's legs go twice as fast as ours to keep up but she does it. Her little mouth is also going about that fast the whole time.

We leave for California this weekend and so we will see how we maintain while we are gone - with all of the temptations and eating out for every meal. But, we will have aswimming pool and the beach so should be okay.

A very traumatic event has happened to Tera this week. Tenlee started kindergarten! It sounds like she was pretty excited because she woke up at 4:30 am to get ready to go. When I talked to her before they left for school she described everything she was wearing and told me how "poofy" and curly her hair was. On Monday they just went for an hour and a parent was supposed to go with them.

This morning she caught the bus. Tera called just crying. Again Tenlee was excited about going and woke Tera up at 6:30. I did tell Tera that she couldn't show Tenlee how sad she is because she will quit wanting to go to school.

Last Saturday Tera asked me to hem up several pair of Tenlee's jeans. After we measured them, Tera started asking if they would look just the same and to make sure I didn't hem them too short, etc. Finally, Tenlee said, "Mom, grandma knows what she's doing." Thanks, Tenlee!!!

Lots of Stuff

Okay - update on the "diet"... Frank has lost 6 pounds and I have lost 3! And, we are losing inches as well. Feel very good at this point.

Caleb had his appendix out on Sunday! He had a horrible stomach ache that morning and finally went into to the emergency room and they did emergency surgery. He went home on Monday and thinks he will start his new job at Jiffy Lube tomorrow! Kids - they sure heal fast.

We went for a wonderful float down the river on Saturday with Theresa and Rich. We put in at the Island Park Dam and floated to Last Chance. It was only about an hour but the perfect day for floating the river! I'm glad we were in a rubber boat though. The water was pretty cold!

We had two people come for a second look on our house this week! The one family loves it but they have to sell their house in Missouri first. They are living in a hotel right now with two teenage boys so I would think they would love just about anything! Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Frank is progressing

It hasn't been bad. We have been eating very healthy and haven't really missed all of the butter, sour cream, bread, etc. Frank has actually enjoyed our healthy meals and it's paying off. He stepped on the scales this morning and has lost 4 pounds! I haven't weighted yet... will wait until Monday. Hopefully I do as well.

I sliced a zucchini and a yellow squash in 1/4 inch slices and laid them on a grill I have for our BBQ. Sprinkled them with onion salt and seasoning salt and then grilled them. Very tasty! Another thing I did this week that Frank loved was made a salad out of tomatoes, red peppers, purple onion, cucumber and cilantro. Frank wasn't sure he could eat it without his ranch dressing but he actually loved it! So, it's all good.

If this bombs, you will be my witness!

Frank and I have decided that it's time for us to get serious about getting into shape. Well, at least to lose some of our poundage! Our goal for right now is to lose 30 pounds each. By writing this goal down and broadcasting it, we are obligated to do it. I remember when I used to say something like, "I think I will make cinnamon rolls today" and then I HAD to do it because Frank and the kids expected it to be done. That's how this is going to be... "I think I will lose 30 pounds this year."

I think everyone needs some kind of catalyst to help them do something like this. We have signed up to try TAIslim and follow that program. I have heard some really good things about this product and the other health products that they have and so that's why we are going to follow it. I will keep everyone informed of our progress weekly.

So, wish us luck..... And if you want to know more about the product, let me know!

Thrift Shops and Service

A couple of Saturdays ago I was looking for a cooking pot and Frank and I were passing a thrift shop and I suggested that we stop in and see if they had what I wanted. We browsed around for a few minutes and the owner of the shop suggested another shop that might have the item. So, we went over there and again no luck so we went to WalMart and bought a new one. I have never really shopped at thrift shops or garage sales and so this was a very different experience for us but walking in those shops took me back to 1963! I was about thirteen years old...

I was taking accordion lessons (don't laugh, they were quite popular back then) and my lessons didn't quite work with my parents work schedule so I often had to wait an hour or so for someone to pick me up. After an hour of lessons I sure didn't want to hang around the studio and listen to other kids murder their songs! There was a little thrift shop next door to the studio and so I would often wander in there looking at their stuff.

After a couple of weeks of going in there, I got to know the ladies that ran the shop. As I remember, it was a fundraiser for a local church. Anyway, I started offering to help sort through the items that were brought in. Some items needed to be cleaned, mended, ironed, folded, etc. I remember one job was to cut off all of the buttons from shirts that weren't good enough to re-sale and then making bags of rags. One week they needed help setting up a new window display and I soon found that I loved arranging items for the window display. I couldn't wait to change the displays each week. It became very important to me to be there for "work" and was a good experience for me.

I enjoyed doing my little volunteer project and helping out. I had been taught by experts to give service - my parents. This was one of my first opportunities to really do something productive to help others. Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives that we forget that giving even an hour or two a week can help others. I think I need to do that again.